But say in your heart …: The wording of Good News Translation here is good, unless someone is unfamiliar with the idiom “say to yourselves.” The words quoted are not, of course, to be addressed to themselves, calling themselves Lord. The sentence obviously means “Instead, say silently to the Lord…,” or using indirect speech, “Tell yourselves to worship only the Lord.”

The archaic pronoun thou is used here to show respect when addressing God. See the comments on Bar 2.11.

For a comment on Lord, see Bar 1.5.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.